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Hamilton Spectator

Haldimand-Norfolk MPP calls for ‘Foodbelt' to protect Ontario's farmland

Dave Kranenburg got up early Tuesday to plant trees on his 28-hectare farm in the Oak Ridges Moraine. Then the director with the National Farmers Union drove to Queen's Park in Toronto to show his support for a private member's bill designed to protect farmland like his. At a news conference, Kranenburg said the Protect Our Food Act is 'vitally needed' as Ontario's arable land falls victim to encroaching development. 'We're investing a lot of our time, our energy, our resources in protecting this soil, the water around us, and to grow food for our neighbours,' he said. 'And I want to know that it's going to be there in 20 years.' The bill, co-sponsored by Haldimand-Norfolk MPP Bobbi Ann Brady and Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner, would see the province create a 'Foodbelt' — like the Greenbelt, but for farmland. The proposed legislation would assemble a task force of farmers, agricultural experts and land-use planners to craft a 'Foodbelt protection plan,' Schreiner explained. Farmland inside the Foodbelt would be permanently protected from development. The plan would include strategies to reduce land speculation, improve soil health, and 'enhance farmland,' all with an aim to 'grow more food right here in Ontario,' Schreiner said. 'Because food security is national security, and without farmland, there are no farms, no food, no future.' With the province losing nearly 130 hectares of farmland every day to urban sprawl, aggregate mining and highway construction, swift action is needed, Brady added. 'So that we can feed ourselves, we must cease the constant subtraction of arable land,' she told reporters. 'This legislation will help prevent further land degradation and protect farmland and arable land for future Ontarians and Canadians, all while respecting farmers who want to create succession plans and reinvest in their farms.' Brady said the farmland lost every day in Ontario could be used to grow 23.5 million apples, 37 million strawberries or enough grapes to fill 1.2 million bottles of wine. 'If we don't protect our food-producing land, we will send shock waves across our economy,' Brady said, noting the agriculture and food processing sector employs nearly one million Ontarians and adds $50 billion to the economy every year. Schreiner and Brady's bill is supported by Ontario Farmland Trust, the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario and the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. At Tuesday's news conference — held a few hours before the bill was tabled in the legislature — OFA director Mark Reusser called farmland 'a strategic resource that can't be made (after) you destroy it.' 'We need to save this precious resource,' Reusser said. Safeguarding Ontario's food sovereignty trumps partisan politics, Schreiner said, adding MPPs should 'put people before party (and) work together to tariff-proof our economy and protect the places we love in Ontario, especially the farmland that feeds us.' Brady said conserving farmland 'is a passion near and dear to my heart,' as she comes from one of Ontario's most productive agricultural regions. This is the independent MPP's second try at getting farmland protection into law. A similar private member's bill she tabled in 2023 was voted down by the government. This time, with formal support from the Greens and a proposed task force to be led by farmers themselves, Brady is more optimistic. She said she plans to consult with rural stakeholders to 'really drill down and get the best piece of legislation that this government can't say no to this time.'